Living on the long ball

This week, the Crowder Roughriders have been living off the long-ball.

Levi Payton

This week, the Crowder Roughriders have been living off the long-ball.

Though they struggled to keep Moraine Valley (Ill.) off the board in the early going, one thing stayed consistent for the Crowder Roughriders on Thursday, and it's the one thing that's been consistent for them all week — their bats. Two three-run homers — the fourth and fifth bombs for the Roughriders this week — were again the culprits of an offensive explosion.

Trailing 9-6 midway through game one of a doubleheader, the Roughriders went on to outscore Moraine Valley 21-2 in the final 10 innings of the day, sweeping the double-dip, 19-9, 8-2.

After allowing nine runs in the first three innings of game one at Roughrider Field, the home team got the last laugh. Trailing 9-6 in the fourth, the Roughriders got a pair of runs in the inning to make it 9-8. Later they battered Moraine reliever's Bob Wilmsen (nine runs in three innings) and Joel Cordova (five runs in 2/3 of an inning) to break it open.

After plating six runs in the fifth inning to take control 14-9, the Roughriders added five more in the sixth, ultimately ending the game when C.J. Webster bashed a no-doubt, three-run homer to left to inflict the run-rule and defeat the Cyclones. It was Wilson's second homer in as many days.

Webster, who finished with three hits and five RBI, matched the run production of teammate Matt Burgess, who also drove in five on four hits. Tony Sandifer also slugged four hits and drove in three runs. Cody Althouse finished the game with three hits, while Ashton Roberts, Lucas Feddersen and Ryan Lazo had two apiece. Chris Scroggins and Ty White both had a hit each.

Althouse and Sandifer both scored four runs, while Scroggins, Burgess, Webster and Roberts crossed the dish twice.

Ryan Smith earned the victory in relief after tossing 2 1/3 scoreless with two strikeouts and two walks. Cody Jackson fired a scoreless frame in the sixth with two strikeouts. Robert Smith started on the mound for the Roughriders and allowed five runs in eight hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Aside from one minor hiccup in the second inning, the Roughriders controlled game two from the beginning.

After escaping trouble in the second, Roughriders starting pitcher Connor Eller buckled down and held the Cyclones to five hits and no further runs through six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. Andrew Schwaab picked up the seventh inning and fired a scoreless frame with two punchouts.

Offensively, the Roughriders kept rolling. They plated three runs in the first inning, and tacked on three big insurance runs in the fifth on a three-run bomb from catcher Sam May to make it 6-2. Two more runs in the sixth turned out to be more than enough support as Eller and Schwaab shut down the Cyclones' bats.

"We squared up a lot of balls," Crowder coach Travis Lallemand said. "That was good for us to make those rhythm adjustments. We've seen good arms this year, and those arms threw strikes, but they were lower velocity guys and you've got to make timing adjustments. Our guys did a good job there."

Perhaps the best part of this recent winning streak for Lallemand has been seeing the entire team contributing each time out.

"We made the plays when we had to, and we got the pitching late that we needed," he said. "It's nice to see that (hitting home runs) is part of our arsenal. It's big when it's a one-run game and then in the sixth inning you can pop a three-run homer to break things open. Because at that point it was anybody's ballgame."

Althouse, Sandifer and May each had two hits in game two, while Burgess and White also had hits. May drove in four and scored a run, while Burgess scored three times and had an RBI.

The Roughriders (16-3) travel to North Central Community College (Trenton, Mo.) on Saturday at noon for a seven inning and nine inning doubleheader.